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But providing hope for the eight among the 47 entries for Sunday's Sirius at The Glen is the fact that seven of the first 11 races at Riverside were won by road racers, including Dan Gurney, Parnelli Jones and A.J. Foyt.
For the 90-lap race on the 2.45-mile Watkins Glen circuit, four regular Winston Cup operations have put drivers with road course backgrounds into their cars, while four other teams have entered drivers with road course experience.
While Richard Childress Racing driver Robby Gordon is the most recent road course winner, at Infineon Raceway in June, his experience before joining the Winston Cup Series full-time in 2001 was heavily-road race oriented.
But that has not been the case for most of the recent winners at Watkins Glen and Infineon. Tony Stewart is the defending champion of the Sirius at The Glen, and Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin combined to win 11 of the last 20 races at the series' two road courses.
But that hasn't kept owners from trying. Four teams that are in disarray for a variety of reasons have called on road course specialists for The Glen.
For the second time this season, Ron Fellows will drive the No. 1 Chevrolet for Dale Earnhardt Incorporated. Fellows, who has three Busch Series wins at WGI along with two Craftsman Truck Series victories, is the most notable visitor.
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| Jeff Gordon has four wins at Watkins Glen, including three straight. Credit: Autostock |
He replaces regular No. 1 driver Jeff Green, who was put into that car when Steve Park was fired in May.
Boris Said will drive the No. 01 Pontiac for the second time, after he scored a career best finish of sixth at Infineon in his eighth career start.
Since regular driver Jerry Nadeau was injured at Richmond in May, MB2 Motorsports has used Said, who scored his lone Truck Series victory on the road course at Infineon, in addition to drivers Mike Wallace and Mike Skinner in its car.
Johnny Miller, who made his Winston Cup debut at Sonoma, Calif., in June with Morgan-McClure Motorsports' first lead lap finish of the season, steps into the No. 04 Kodak Pontiac.
MMM has been involved in a driver search program since it fired Skinner earlier this season, and owner Larry McClure has entered a second car, a No. 4 Pontiac for former Indy car driver P.J. Jones.
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Morgan-McClure is one of three teams strapped without provisionals at Watkins Glen for its No. 4 car. The No. 04 has attempted two races, so has at least some owner points. A.J. Foyt has entered a No. 50 for son Larry, to replace the provisional-less No. 14.
The Nos. 49 and 43 are the other cars without provisionals available.
The other driver standing in, in a regular ride, is Grand American driver Scott Maxwell.
Maxwell, a Canadian, spoke with Petty Enterprises CEO Kyle Petty at a Grand American race at Daytona last month and the team owner opted to put Maxwell into his No. 43 Dodge while transferring its regular driver, former Formula One and Indy car driver Christian Fittipaldi, to a No. 44 New York Yankees Dodge.
Other road course ringers entered at The Glen include Trans-Am point leader Scott Pruett, a five-time winner in that series this season who will again drive a No. 39 Dodge for owner Chip Ganassi.
Paul Menard, who is on a crash course this summer driving for veteran owner Andy Petree in Winston Cup, Busch, Craftsman Truck and the ARCA Series, will pilot a No. 33 Chevrolet in an attempt to make his Winston Cup debut.
Joe Varde, a veteran IMSA road-racing champion that currently works behind the scenes in the Busch Series, will debut a No. 35 Chevrolet owned by his wife, Cheryl.
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